MORE DRINKING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 84, 10 April 1937, Page 13

MORE DRINKING.

VIEWS OF BISHOPS.

DISCUSSION IN SYNOD.

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

HAMILTON, this day,

A motion "That Synod views with apprehension the excessive consumption of intoxicating liquor in this country, and would urge a stricter application of the existing laws," was moved by Archdeacon Hodgson, of Rotorua, at yesterday's sitting of the Anglican General Synod.

The mover said that a large number of the men employed on road and afforestation works near Rotorua spent most of their Saturdays in the hotels. He was also concerned about the quality of the liquor that was sold. Those who consumed it "did noF get drunk in the English way." He had never heard of any prosecutions for adulteration. Mr. C. J. Tunks, Auckland, said that since the increase in wages and the reduction in tbe hours of work, hotelkeepers had had to increase their staffs of barmen to cope with the greater trade.

Mnoiia Need Protection. ® ennett > Aotearoa, appealed to the Synod use its influence to protect tne young Maori people from the ravages of the drink traffic. There had been a the drinking habits of Jhe Maoris, sinc-e easy money had come Into their hands, he said, and a great deal of their time on Saturdays was •pent in the hotels.

The bishop added that he had recently attended a large meeting of Maoris, and it was pathetic to listen to the appeals of the women to him to save their men from drink. They wanted to have their men prohibited from bein<r supplied with liquor altogether. Opposition to the motion was voiced' by Bishop Cherrington, Waikato, who said he regarded the excessive consumption of liquor as a phase which would pass. In his opinion a much more important thing would be the establishment of licensed houses in the King Country where, he said, there was more liquor consumed than in any other part of New Zealand. If there were an hotel m every township he was sure that the evil or excessive drinking would greatly diminish.

"Parson's Pub'?. Experiment. Bishop Holland, Wellington, said he was probably the only clergvman present who had been in the liqour trade. For seven years he had conducted a public house in England, and he knew some of the difficulties. The only hope for improvement was to make conditions in the trade normal and not abnormal. Hia hotel was known as "The Parson's Pub," and he had never had a drunken man in it. It was under disinterested management and was not run for private profit, the net returns being devoted to the payment of the organist's salary. He thought the only solution of the problem in New Zealand was to eliminate the element of private profit. Archbishop Averill advocated the strengthening of the motion, and an amendment in this direction, moved by Canon F. O. Harvie, Auckland, was under discussion when the svnod Moridky.'« -